. . . “You children of Israel, why are you amazed at this,
[curing the man crippled from birth]
and why do you look so intently at us
as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?”
(Acts 3:12)
So often we succumb to the natural human instinct of our own initiative when we want certain results or we endeavor to garner grand accomplishments or goals.
We are conditioned in very early childhood by our parents, family, teachers, or by society in general that we each achieve our own way of life, our own ‘success’, by our own power. We figure out what we’re good at, then exploit that gift or talent or feature to become successful.
We come to learn that everything in life is measured by that success. It could be the money we earn or the land we own or the job title we manifest or even the leadership positions to which we are elected or assigned. Success is always measured on how well we have used our own power to accomplish our condition in life. And more or higher or better is redundantly the measuring stick for success and achievement.
To a certain extent, that is good as it is a healthy exercise to utilize the gifts and talents with which we have been blessed.
But in our spiritual lives, it’s is a wildly new landscape. We don’t have the same control. Yet inherently, we assume the epitome of all lofty goals: be like Christ. Strive to be holy, a giver, a lover, a mirror of Christ. The crazy part if this new landscape is we only have ourselves and Jesus in the picture. And to start we’re given a totally blank slate.
Now, many of the saints grabbed the opportunity to grow in holiness at a very young age and became incredibly holy early in their lives. Most of us, though, didn’t spot that opportunity so readily. We’ve had a lot of life toss us around by our ill-fated choices. Sin has tarnished our thinking or our spiritual vision. However, the goal never changed.
We are still called to be holy. God hasn’t given up on us yet. He’s still there, waiting patiently for us to choose Him.
He’s waiting for us to choose Him repeatedly, each day. To choose to put our own power aside and surrender, submit to His will. He is asking us simply and continually to look for Him. Look for Him deep in our own hearts. We are to look within ourselves shedding the ugliness of sin to expose the grandeur of the image and likeness of God.
Spiritually submitting to God in all things stands in stark contrast to our physical world. But by believing sincerely, “Thy will be done, Lord,” and in living that holy belief out every day in the circles of our lives we can grow into that holiness. And, in turn, lift those around us to holiness also.
Let us humbly submit our will to the Lord as He cures all of our crippling burdens.
He is the source of all cure.